Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is June 30, 2008

While we’ve intended to homeschool for quite awhile, I have always been extremely cautious to not make it about a ’school is evil’ thing.  Because it isn’t. The reality is that as a parent you have to dedicate 25% to your children.  The CHOICE is whether it’s 25% of your time homeschooling, 25% of your time in supplementing their schooling and morals, or 25% of your time/money to send them to private school.  No matter how you do it, it takes a huge chunk to do it right. And no one ever does it perfectly.

I feel like a breakdown is inevitable.  I know that I can tough it out and force myself to be the all-powerful, homechool super-mom, but I WILL have a breakdown at some point. I don’t want it to be at 3rd or 4th grade after a miserable year, where I’m putting her in public school because of a failure. I feel strongly about homeschooling, but I think that taking a break now for a year to get a good head start and be really prepared next year (or the next if we decide to send her longer, whatever) is a healthier decision and it’s on my terms.  I’ve always said that I’m not married to homeschooling. I’ve seen it done so well that it produced amazing, confident adults. Yet I’ve also seen children broken by horrible circumstances where parents insist on homechooling for their OWN identity.  I have to choose on what is best for Selah and Jacob, and right now their momma is tired and overwhelmed. I don’t know that I can do the best job for them *this* year.   The only 100% is that my children are my priority, and I will sacrifice who I want to be to see them be who they need to be any and every day.

So, there it is. I feel so strange now that it is decided. I can’t imagine my children being away from me THAT much. It’s a very humbling decision, because I’m admitting my human-ness and my inability to do all that I think I should.  But I know that God has grace for this.   

On Saturday we went school shopping, just the two of us.  We stopped at Starbucks, where she was thrilled to pieces to get a chocolate milk in a mini version of Mommas cup of coffee complete with the lid to sip it through.  She couldn’t help her random giggling and kept saying, “Momma, do people think that I’m drinking real coffee?  Caffeine isn’t healthy. Do they know?”  I assured her that they knew caffeine was not healthy and that anyone would easily assume that she was drinking decaf coffee like her mommy.  It was a simple shopping trip, since her school requires uniforms.  I did let her pick out some barrettes and headbands.  What  a precious morning.

Selah starts school on July 14th.  The school is a year-round program.  For the past 5 weeks she has reminded me every Saturday morning of exactly how many weeks are left until she starts school.  It’s on Saturday because she says that is when the week ends. It doesn’t matter that school will begin on a Monday, the week begins on the Sunday. But for me, I know that two weeks from today I will be alone with my 2 boys. And then only a few more weeks after that for Jacob to start preschool. 

Lucas is such a wild card for us. I think that a few months of alone time with mom, before conceding the throne of  ’the baby’ to another, will be good for him.  Selah and Jacob never had a minute of jealousy over being dethroned. They were each immediately enthralled with the title of big sister/brother.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see Lucas giving in so graciously.  While he’s more daring and adventurous he also has an edge of anger and attitude that the others never seemed to have. It’s just who he is and I have to parent him differently.  It’ll be good to have some time to work on his little heart before my time is taken up with all the newborn stuff again.  I think this year will be good for all of us.

 

Chinese Fire Drill June 9, 2008

You’ve played it. I know you have.  Just when you least expect it someone is yelling for everyone to leap out of the van, run around in circles piling in all haphazard with no one ending up where they started out. That’s my life the last few months.  Changes, decisions, unexpectedness.  So in the upheaval, blogging went right out the window.  No space in my day for it.  Just not the top priority in life.  Things are falling back into place, and not many are in the same place they were 4 months ago.  But the changes are good. 

I keep getting emails asking me to write some more.  At the time that I quit I was getting around 200 views a day, so someone was reading me.  I’m thinking that I’ll start carving out some time again for it.  Not that I have much more than a minute right now. I’ve got 3 little munchkins asking for lunch and 4 loads of laundry to do.  Now if I could figure out how to upload the video to show you, I’d be doing really well.

Enough rambling. I’ll be back a bit later with something more interesting to share.

 

 

Easter Story Cookies March 22, 2008

Oh, and here’s our Easter Story Cookie RecipeDLTK’s Bible Activities for Kids
Easter Story Cookies

My neighbor gave me this recipe, but I found it by searcing, too.

EASTER STORY COOKIES 

To be made the evening before Easter

	1cup whole pecans
	1tsp vinegar
	3 egg whites
	pinch salt
	1 cup sugar
	zipper baggie
	wooden spoon
	tape
	Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important, don’t wait till you’re half done with the recipe!)Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was Beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1tsp vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60.

 Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.
 Copied from here

No Easter Bunny ‘Round hare… March 22, 2008

Nope.  Just like Santa, the big fluffy guy is seriously a distraction from the meaning of the holiday. Which is the death of Christ.  I don’t post a lot about my spiritual beliefs here, but I’m sure they are evident.   I believe Easter is the most important day of the year. The remembrance of the death of Christ is much more important than his birth, because his death is what gives us freedom. 

To find out where he came from, read this.  

 Easter Bunny

On Thursday night we had 3 couples over for dinner, prayer and communion.  The idea being that ‘The Last Supper’ (the Thursday before Easter) was Christ with his friends sharing a simple meal of wine and bread and then he didn’t eat again until he rose on Sunday.  So that was the last thing we ate.  I did have one cup of coffee with milk yesterday and I made some apple/orange juice this morning and had about 6 ounces. 
Ironically, I had to make 2 huge batches of muffins and a batch of chocolate overload cookies yesterday, all while not eating.  It wasn’t really that bad.  And today I have to make 2 cakes to take to dinner tomorrow, and we are making Easter Story Cookies with the kids.
I’ve always had a hard time fasting because I’m hypoglycemic.  It really hasn’t been a problem this time and I’m actually enjoying the experience of reading the bible and meditating at mealtimes instead of eating.  Part of me actually wants to start fasting on a more regular basis because it’s so calming.  Haven’t really felt hungry yet, but I may by tonight.

  We’ve read the stages from Palm Sunday to the cross to the kids and Selah keeps begging us to go ahead and read the end, even though she knows what happens. It’s precious.  We will read the resurrection tomorrow morning and have a ‘celebration’ over breakfast.   Tonight Travis and I will watch ‘The Passion of The Christ’ after the kids go to bed.  Tomorrow we will have lunch with my family and dinner with his. 

So, that’s our Easter process. What’s yours?

Easter Facts March 22, 2008

Easter is always  the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring
Equinox (which is March  20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar
calendar that Hebrew people  used to identify Passover, which is why it
moves around on our Roman  calendar.

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day  earlier (March 22)
than it will be this year (200 but that is pretty  rare.

This year is the  earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our
lives! And only the most  elderly of our population have ever seen it
this early previously (95 years old  or above!). And none of us have ever, or will
ever, see it a day earlier! Here  are the facts:

 1) The next time Easter will be this early (March  23) will be the year
2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early  was 1913 (so if
you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for  that!).

 2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will  be in the year
2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was  1818.
No  one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this  year.

The Day of The Colonoscopy March 10, 2008

Just got home and I’m totally spent.  It was a long day.  I wanted to let my mommas know that they were able to rule out any cysts or tumors. Not a polyp either.  His colon is inflamed and they took 2 biopsies that we will not get the results of until Friday.  So, at least the big scary stuff is off the list of options.   

Selah and Lucas spent the night at my in-laws house, a rare treat for them and us.  It’s amazing how well Jacob did with not being able to eat for 24 hours. He would ask for food but never fussed when we told him that he had to wait for the doctor to give him permission at the hospital. During mealtimes I sat and played with him so he got some special momma time.

He started out excited when we got to the hospital, but became uneasy when we were put in the room. We almost had a full on revolt when he recognized the gown from prior visits. He didn’t want that thing near him.  The’ goofy gas’ they gave him loosened him up pretty quickly.  We got a bit of a glimpse of what Jacob the Stoner would be like…

The took him from the room and we waited, and waited… I tried to knit. I turned on the TV. Finally I forced Travis to get off of his laptop and walk down to the cafe with me for a cup of coffee and a muffin. We hadn’t eaten, of course, since Jacob couldn’t.  I walked through the gift shop to laugh at a bunch of horrendous junk.  Who buys this stuff?

We were only back in the room for about 10 minutes before the brought him back.  Coming out of it was pretty traumatic for all of us.  He was kicking and screaming as if he didn’t even know we were there.  All I could think of is ‘This is what Jacob would be like if he was autistic”.  I’ve never heard him scream like that or have a fit like that.  I held him kicking and screaming for 20 minutes while he was still coming out. He doesn’t even remember it, but my arms are literally still sore from it for hours afterward. Finally the only thing that would calm him was to have the lights off while watching TV.  But the only thing that made it work was me talking in a constant, low voice while he watched ‘The Fox and The Hound”.  The second he didn’t hear my voice, he would start screaming and writhing again.  Eventually it all wore off and he was jut a little dizzy and off balance for the rest of the afternoon.

We let him choose to go to a restaurant after the hospital to get something to eat. Chickfila, of course. That’s a big treat around here.  It was so strange to be there, just Mom, Popi and Jake. He was loving it.

We drove up to get Selah and Lucas, about 45 minutes away, and spent the rest of the afternoon there.

By the time I got them all dressed and in bed I was so worn out.  I felt like I could use some goffy gas myself. For kicks here’s a video of him on the ‘goofy gas’ before he went in.

Do You Believe We Have The Right? March 8, 2008

Got this from a friend. If you believe we should have a right to homeschool, please go and sign!  You don’t have to WANT to homeschool to believe that we have the right!
———————

This is really outrageous. I feel for the homeschooling families in California. If you go to the HSLDA site http://www.hslda.org you can sign the petition to depublish the recent case in California. This is all explained on the HSLDA site – spouses can sign separately.

Dear Fellow Homeschooler,

Many of you have already heard about the recent ruling in CA requiring all home school families to have a state teaching certificate in order to continue homeschooling. This virtually outlaws homeschooling in that state. It could also set a precedent for other states to follow if we do not act. Dr. Dobson addressed this issue in his daily broadcast yesterday. I have enclosed the link so you may listen as he talks with several experts on the repercussions of this case.

There is something we can do about this! We can sign a petition put out by HSLDA to stop this decision from becoming law in CA. You will be helping your fellow homeschoolers in CA and eventually all homeschoolers in America. To sign the petition simply go to the HSLDA website. The link to the petition is currently on their home page.

Please stand together with us to fight this terrible offense. Feel free to forward this email to all of your home school friends to get the word out and take action.

Sincerely,

Audrey Britt
President, Home Front Educators

Ready to Read? March 8, 2008

Here is a fun ‘Reading Readiness’ test for 4 year olds.  I had Jacob do it and he got 17 out of 20, most likely because he’s around when Selah is reading and is very interested.  He didn’t get the rhyming question.  Selah wanted to do the test too (even though she already reads) and got all of them rapidfire and correct, except the rhyming question!  I think I know what we’ll be working on this week!
 
http://school.familyeducation.com/reading/early-learning/46528.html?detoured=1

 I don’t have any intention of starting any work with him other than we already do or anything.  The test is just a fun little quiz and I was pretty happy with how he did at only just having turned 3 in January.  See, my kids learn something…

Of Mice and Media March 8, 2008

I distinctly remember a conversation that Travis and I had with another couple when we were preggers with our first, Selah.  Somehow we had gotten on the subject of children’s media and they were incredulous at our intention of keeping it bare bones in our house. 

Them: Well, aren’t you going to let them watch the Simpsons? (insert look of amazement)

US: Ummm.. Heck no.

Them: There’s nothing wrong with the Simpsons. It’s hilarious!  Our kids are gonna love the Simpsons! Don’t tell me your going to be one of those ‘Disney is Evil.’ families!  (I almost stepped aside to look in the mirror to be sure that I hadn’t actually grown two heads)

Us:  Well, the thing of it is…

Yes, the thing of it is… what is the thing of it.  Simpsons.  Yes, it’s funny.  Seriously clever and entertaining. But honestly?  Mom’s a wimp and off in lala land.  Dad’s a lazy bum that certainly isn’t the best example for his kids.  Bart, totally undisciplined and disrespectful.  Lisa, unchallenged and unvalidated.  Maggie…whatever.  Dude, go for it. Watch the Simpsons.  I’ll watch it now and then and laugh.  But I’m not going to let a 3 year old that is just learning how to be respectful and interact with others watch that.   It plants seeds that I don’t want and I have enough weeding and pruning to do on my sweet little guys.  I’m not up for adding that into my workload.  You go for it.  That discussion was about 5 1/2 years ago.  As far as I can see, the other couple’s kids are pretty great.  I’ve never asked if they actually let them watch the Simpsons.  It’s just not that big of a deal to me.  When they get older?  Maybe. Doubt it, but maybe.

Now Disney. That’s just downright evil from the pit of hell. Oh, I so crack myself up sometimes.  There was a huge ‘boycott Disney’ movement when I was growing up.  Maybe it’s still around?  Surprisingly enough my parents didn’t get too active in it. They’d already cut out so many things that they had Disney covered long before the boycott started.  I never say scooby doo until after I was married.  I still don’t think I’ve ever really seen the Smurfs.  My father still swears that smurf means ‘little demon’ in Swedish or something.  We seriously weren’t allowed to watch just about anything.  Except the Cosby Show, Little House on The Prairie, Mash, Night Rider and McGyver.  The last three because my father loved them and his short lived stance against the media for kids wasn’t as strong as his desire to watch HIS favorite shows.  No TiVo back then.

Ok, back to Disney. I don’t hate The Mouse, but I don’t let my kids watch Disney, I think.  I say I think because it’s more about individual movies.  These movies are made by some seriously talented people and I enjoy them.  But children see things so differently. They see a movie one timeand they’re consumed with the desire to BE the princess or the hero. They long for the romance that they don’t understand and aren’t ready for.  They see the villains and monsters and their little hearts haven’t yet learned to distinguish between reality and fantasy.  Think about Sleeping Beauty or The Little Mermaid.  The witches are terrifying! Not just because their witches and witches are eeeevvviillll.   They morph into these huge monsters with sounds and flashes and …terror!  It’s the picture that I don’t want to be putting into their little minds.  Their innocence is only intact as long as I protect it.  And at this point we prefer to limit their exposure to things that are a little more on the realistic side of fantasy. None of them seems scared by our oppressive parenting so far.

 But I’m also very big on giving our children choices. Because, whether we as parents like it or not, they always have a choice. And “because I said so” can be a slippery slope of uneducation that I don’t want my kids to slide down.  So, I spend a lot of time explaining their choices.

Last week Selah saw a copy of Sleeping Beauty and was just begging to see it.  The child was batting her eyelashes with a sweet little tilt to her head. She looked up at me with those big brown eyes…. “Please let me see it, Momma.”  So I sat down with her in my lap for a talk. 

Me: Why do you want to watch this movie, Love?

Selah: Because I want to watch the Princess and see the castle! It looks beautiful.

Me: She is beautiful, but this movie is a little bit scary. There is a mean witch in this movie that wants to kill Sleeping Beauty. She’s mean and hateful. She throws fire and turns into a dragon and destroys things especially trying to kill the prince that is coming to save the princess. It gets really loud and confusing with lots of fire and the big dragon. I’m worried that if you watch this you will have those pictures in your head and your heart, and they will make you afraid when you think of them. They will give you bad dreams in the night when you could have had good dreams without those pictures in your head.

Selah: Oh…. stares off with her brow creased in concern.

Me: Selah, Do you still want to watch the movie?

Selah: No thanks, Momma. I’m going to go play with my dollhouse. Maybe I can watch it when I’m 10. And off she gallops to sweet playtime adventure.

Now, had she said yes I would have talked to Travis and we may have sat down and watched it with her, asking her how it made her feel at intense intervals to see how she fared. I have no doubt that she would have asked to turn it off at some point.

So, the TV is hardly ever on around here, but I don’t go around saying the TV is sinful.  I do love that instead of begging for, well, I don’t know any shows really… my 5 and 3 year old will sit side by side for an hour at the dining room table doing puzzles.   They haven’t seen a lot of the popular movies and didn’t understand most of the costumes on Halloween that kids wore pertaining to their favorite characters.  My kiddos begged to dress up as Dorothy and The Tin Man because that’s what we were reading at the time.  See, they get some fantasy. But, I still wouldn’t let them watch the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for quite awhile.

I have found that the Pixar movies are generally pretty good.  See, I’m not totally off my rocker.  They don’t have the romantic themes and, while fantastic, they’re more realistic?  The kids were just allowed to watch Toy Story at a friend’s house.  My son immediately decided he is Buzz Lightyear.  I have to say that it confirmed my conviction a bit. If they are at a stage where they are going to take on the personalities of what they watch, I’d better get some good stuff into that DVD player for them to copy!

Anyway, I’m now rambling for no reason. I’m sure you get my point.  I’d love to see some suggestions for good movies for kids to grow on.  The current favorites are Charlotte’s Web, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and Evan Almighty, followed by any Veggie Tales they can get their hands on.   Think about it for a second and post a comment letting me know what movies you want your kids to act like? 

Houston, We Have A Problem March 7, 2008

Here I am, at 6 o’clock in the morning…still dreaming about you…

Song lyrics from yet another cheesy song.  It’s from the mid 80’s.  It’s driving me CRAZY that I can’t remember the rest of the song, title or big haired group.  I just tried to google the lyrics and instead of the answer, I found myself clicking on a nasty porn site.  What jerks to disguise it as something normal. I’m really pretty ticked about it.  Selah was standing right here!!  Thank God I could just shut the laptop and say, over the obnoxious groans, “Honey, go get Popi to wake up.”  Lovely obedient girl…

So, Why am I up and typing again, when I just finished up 4 1/2 hours ago?  Well. I wasn’t sleeping well.  I’m totally achy and sore.  I was still trying to convince myself that it was just a bad cycle, not an indication that The Diva Cup was not so welcome where it was. Then it happened. A about 5:30 I sneezed.  It wasn’t a big sneeze. Nothing close to The Sneeze of 2005 when I peed my pants while I was preggers with Jacob. Now that was embarrassing.  No, this was a modest little sneeze.  Didn’t even wake Travis.  Yes it must have ‘broken the seal’.  I felt a little gush yet was still in that half asleep state where it didn’t register concern. For about five minutes.  Then the nagging something that wasn’t letting me go back to sleep registered.  Um, uh-oh.  Gush is a very, very bad thing. 

So I rolled out of bed and dragged myself to the bathroom.  Yep.  Soaked.  As I reached to Remove the Diva Cup I was shocked at how painful it was.  The walls of my vaja-ja were so sore.  Seriously, ouch.  So out it came.  Dumped it. Rinsed it.  Went to go get a pad.  I think the Diva Cup and I need a break.

I’m really, really sad.   I think this is an amazing product and I wanted to be able to give it a rave review.  It’s not over. I’m going to call Diva Cup today and talk to them.  My suspicion is that I should have the smaller size 1 cup.  I already know I have a small vagina. I’ve (to my sadness) had 3 c-sections, so no stretching by birth.  When I was fitted for a diaphragm I was the smallest size available. That was only a little over a year ago.  So, I’m hoping this is just a size issue. We’ll see.  For now I’m giving it a rest and I’m back to the Glad Rags.

And now both boys are up.  Selah and Travis just left to go on a ‘date’, which simply means breakfast alone at the All Star Cafe.  Teaching my precious girl how a man should treat her early More on that later.  For now I’m going on less than 4 hours of sleep.  Lucas woke back up and had to play for another 45 minutes after my  last entry.  I have a tour of the public school with Selah at 8:30(I’ll explain why later), a Koala Mommas meeting to go to at 10:00 and Travis has today off so we intended to do something special with the kids today.May be hard with the rain.  I’m so tired, I actually feel physically ill to the pit of my stomach, so please ignore any extra typos. Not a way to start the day.  I’m going to go make some juice and oatmeal to feed my boys.